Mar.10 (GMM) Sebastien Bourdais has confirmed he explored the possibility of returning to America this year, before his Toro Rosso contract for 2009 was signed.

Team boss Franz Tost on Monday insisted there was always an unwritten "agreement" for the Frenchman to race a second year with the Faenza team, even if the actual contract was only signed at the end of January.

While the secondary Red Bull team considered teaming up with Takuma Sato in the meantime, 30-year-old Bourdais - a highly successful champion of the US-based open wheeler scene - admitted he considered re-crossing the Atlantic.

"Yes, obviously it was an alternative. I'm a professional driver and the worst thing that could have happened to me was not to have a seat, not to drive," he told reporters at the Barcelona test.

"So I investigated different things, and going back to the States was one of them."